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NEW YORK. 

Printed by Nicholas Muller, 48 Beckman St. 
1 8 5 9. 


iS&mmS 


-2 

Artificial (f((l;tnnffj ants PenfHatiait, 

AND 

THE COMMON MODES 

BY WHICH THEY ARE PRODUCED, 

BY 


Will. C. BAKER, 

radical €nginxcr in farming anil Ventilating. 







































* • ’ * • * I 

- 








. . 



* 






. 



















AND 


THE COMMON MODES 


BY WHICH THEY ARE PRODUCED 


BY 


WJ?I. C. BAKER, 

^practical (Kirgiiurr in (farming aub to'ilating. 


NEW YORK. 

Printed by Nicholas Muller, 48 Beekman St. 
1 8 5 9. 








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INTRODUCTORY REMARKS, 


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There is no subject of a material nature to which 
such vital importance can with propriety be attached, 
as to that of the construction of our dwellings, for in 
them we are to live and find a home with our families 
and friends. And nothing connected with that home, 
its health, comfort and happiness can command the im¬ 
portant considerations that are connected with the qua¬ 
lity of the air — the element upon which chiefly de¬ 
pends the existence of those most dear to us, our wives 
and children. Hence the artificial heat which may 
make that air impure, becomes an subject of paramouut 
significance. 

In the Sun nature has kindly provided us with a 
magnificient warming apparatus, which alone, for a great 
portion of the globe, is all-sufficient. Through the day 
he diffuses genial and equal warmth, and at evening 
withdraws to permit the cool repose of the night. He 
gives a reflective and conductive heat, with the warm¬ 
est rays nearest our feet, instead of our heads; the qua¬ 
lity, too, is at once of the purest, and always below an 
excessive temperature. 

But unfortunately for the inhabitants of that section 
of the earth in which we reside, the sun yields a suffi¬ 
cient external warmth but a small portion of the year, 
and we are compelled to resort to some artificial sub¬ 
stitute for the remainder. We have that grand lumi¬ 
nary and heater for a model, and the nearer we imitate 



4 — 


it the nearer shall we arrive to perfection in the con¬ 
struction and application of artificial warming apparatus. 

In speaking of the most common contrivances for 
creating artificial warmth, it is admitted that they all 
possess, to a certain extent, the superficial object to he 
attained, viz: heating yoicer. But this is in reality but 
an elementary principle, therefore we shall speak of 
qualities that are not so apparent, and leave the reader 
to exercise his own judgment in determining which plan 
comes nearest to the standard of the great prototype 
and combines the qualities appertaining to a perfect sys¬ 
tem for creating and maintaining artificial heat. 

OPEN FIRE-PLACES. 

One of the earliest modes for warming, and one which 
at the present time is more universally adopted than 
any other, is the burning of wood or coal in an open 
fire-place at one side of the room. There are various 
modifications of this arrangement, dating all the way 
back from the primitive hand-irons or fire-dodgs within 
an uncouth fire-place of clay or stone, to the modern 
grate with its glittering surroundings of silver and 
marble; but they are all subject to the following object¬ 
ions. 

1. Waste of fuel. It has been found that in a common 
open English fire, seven-eighths of the heat produced 
from the fuel ascend the chimney, and are absolutely 
lest. This lost fuel is thus accounted for. One half of 
the heat is carried off in the smoke from the burning mass; 
one quarter is carried off by the current of the warmed air 
of the room, which is constantly entering the chimney 
between the fire and the mantel-piece, and mixing with 
the smoke; lastly, one eighth part of the combustible 
matter is supposed to form the black and visible part of 


K 

- O- 


smoke, in an unburned state. Some writers have even 
gone so far as to estimate the loss of heat in an open 
fire at fourteen-fifteenths of the whole. 2. Unequal 
heating at different distances from the fire. — This 
forms a remarkable contrast with the uniform tempera¬ 
ture in the air of a summer afternoon. In rooms with 
a strong fire, in very cold weather, it is not uncommon 
for persons to complain of being “scorched’ 7 on one side, 
“pierced with cold 77 on the other; this is particularly 
the case in large apartments; for as the intensity of ra¬ 
diating heat (like light) is only one fourth as great at a 
double distance, the walls of the room farthest from the 
fire are but little warmed, and, therefore, reflect but 
little heat to the backs of persons grouped round the 
fire. 3. Cold draughts. — Air being constantly re¬ 
quired to feed the fire, and to supply the chimney- 
draught, the fresh air which enters by the crevices and 
defects in the doors, windows, floors &c., is often felt 
most injuriously as a cold current. “There is nothing 
more dangerous to health than to sit near such inlets, 
as is proved by the rheumatism, stiff necks, and ca¬ 
tarrhs, not to mention more serious diseases, which so 
frequently follow the exposure. There is an old Spa¬ 
nish proverb, thus translated. 

If cold wind reach you through a hole, 

Go make your will, and mind your soul, 

which is scarlely an exaggeration. 77 The current of 
fresh air which enters to feed the fire becomes very 
remarkable when doors or windows are opened, for the 
chimney can take much more than it otherwise re¬ 
ceives when the doors and windows are shut; and thus the 
room with its chimney becomes like an open funnel, 
rapidly discharging its warmed air. 4. Cold to the J'ect. 
— The fresh air which enters in any case to supply 


6 — 


the fire, being colder and specifically heavier than the 
general mass already in the room, lies at the bottom of 
this as a distinct layer or stratum, demonstrable by a 
thermometer, and forming a dangerous cold-bath for the 
feet of the inmates, often compelling delicate persons to 
keep their feet raised out of it by footstools, or to use 
unusual covering to protect them. 5 .Bad ventilation .—■ 
Notwithstanding the rapid change of air in the room, per¬ 
fect ventilation is not effected. The breath of the in¬ 
mates does not tend towards the chimney, but directly 
to the ceiling; and as it must therefore again descend 
to come below the level of the mantel-piece before it 
can reach the chimney, the same air may be breathed 
over and over again. In a crowded room, with an open 
fire, the air is for this reason often highly impure. As 
another source of impure air in a house, it may be no¬ 
ticed that the demand of the chimneys, if not fully 
supplied by pure air from obout the doors and win¬ 
dows, operates through any other apertures. G. Smoke 
and dust. — These are often unavoidable from an open 
chimney, much affecting the comfort end health of the 
inhabitants of the house, and destroying the furniture. 
Householders would make great sacrifices in other 
respects to be free from the annoyance of smoke. In 
large mansions, with many fires lighted, if the doors 
and windows fit closely, and sufficiency of air for so 
many chimneys cannot therefore enter by them, not 
only do the unused chimneys become entrances for air, 
but often the longest and most heated of them in use 
overpower the shorter and less heated, and cause the 
shorter chimneys to discharge their smoke into the 
room. 7. Loss of time. — During the time every 
morning while the fires are being lighted, the rooms 
cannot be used; and there are, besides, the annoyances 


of smell, smoke, dust, and noise, all of which are again 
renewed if the fire is allowed to go out and to ho re¬ 
lighted in the course of the day. 8. Danger to 'persoil 
and to property. — How numerous are the losses of 
property by carelessness as to tires is well know to all, 
while the less frequent hut more distressing loss of life 
too well attests the danger to children and to females 
thinly clad often consequent on an open fire. 

Such are the objections enumerated by I)r. Arnott, 
to which we may add the annoyance and injury oc¬ 
casioned by the unavoidable ashes and dirt attending 
this mode of heating. Coal and kindling cannot be 
habitually brought into a nice room without injury to 
the carpet, aside from the liability of sparks of tire to 
fall upon it. What careful hand can remove the ashes 
and cinders, or poke the tire, without setting afloat a 
storm of ash-flakes which settle upon books, furniture, 
Ac., Ac. ? 


STOVES. 

Next in the progress of improvement come the in¬ 
numerable patterns of stoves. With the exception that 
they can be cheaply bought, and are somewhat more 
economical of fuel, their use is attended with all the 
evils of the open fire-place and grate, with the ad¬ 
ditional objections of taking up valuable room, being- 
unsightly, and, worst of all, they produce some of 
the evils of the hot-air furnace in presenting a heating 
surface the temperature of which is sufficiently high to 
kill the animalcula of the air, and scorch the myriad 
particles of dust floating therein, rendering it unfit for 
respiration, and so dry as to injure the wood-work and 
furniture. The evaporating vessel of water on the 
stove is but a poor remedy for this evil. Stoves also 


8 


come in competition with our lungs in the consumption 
of the oxygen of the air to support combustion, and do 
not recompense us for the loss, as in the ventilation which 
we get from an open fire. 

HOT-AIR FURNACES. 

Of all patent inventions for the destruction of human 
life, which custom has tolerated under the head of 
u modern improvements,” no one ranks higher than the 
common hot-air furnace. The evils arising from them 
are so numerous and glaringly apparent, that we can 
conceive of no other reason for their general introduc¬ 
tion than that they are “ cheap:' There arc other ar¬ 
rangements for warming before the public which are, 
at least, exempt from those intolerable objections which 
are inseparably connected with this ; yet this Moloch 
of iniquity is still welcomed as a household companion 
because its first cost is small. When we take into con¬ 
sideration the great amount of fuel which they consume, 
the injury to wood-work and furniture, the high rates 
of insurance charged where they are used, the many 
valuable buildings they destroy by fire, and, above all, 
the invaluable human lives which are being daily sacri¬ 
ficed —burnt offerings to this system—who can call 
them cheap , although their market value may be small ? 
Men are wise in not employing them to yield warmth 
to the flowers and exotics of the green-house and con¬ 
servatory. But human plants—flowers of immortality 
—may sicken by inhaling their polluted breath, and 
wither away under the Sirocco-like blasts of this 
abominable system of heating. 

THEIR INJURY TO HEALTH. 

The fundamental evil of hot-air furnaces lies in the 
very limited amount of heating surface they contain. 


9 


The air we are to breathe should never come in contact 
with surface sufficiently heated to char the innumerable, 
minute, dusty particles of decayed animal and vege¬ 
table matter always floating therein. 250° is the limit 
to which any surface should be heated. Or it should 
be kept at a temperature so low, that, in ordinary 
* cases, with the surface situated below, as hot-air fur¬ 
naces are, 1 square foot of heating surface would be re¬ 
quired (to give a sufficiency of heat in the coldest of wea¬ 
ther) to every 100 cubic feet of space to be warmed. Take, 
for instance, a house containing eight rooms, averaging- 
in size 16 feet square and 12 feet high = 24,576 cubic 
feet of space to be warmed. This would require of 
heating surface, at a temperature of the above limit, 
245 square feet ; but a hot-air furnace of the size 
usually put in to heat such a house, would not exceed 
75 square feet of heating surface. To make this small 
amount sufficient in cold weather, it is necessary to heat 
it to a temperature ranging from 800° to 1,000°. The 
baking temperature of an oven is 320°; wood will ig¬ 
nite at 350° ; but what may be said of the healthful¬ 
ness of air heated against surfaces which exceed the 
burning point of wood by 650 degrees ! By excessive 
heating, the air itself is decomposed, its animalcule de¬ 
stroyed, and their innumerable dead carcasses—if we 
may so speak—are thrown into the apartments being- 
heated. The effluvia of the decomposition of this mass 
of animal matter constitutes a part of the disagreeable 
odor which escapes from the registers. Air being an 
almost perfect non-conductor of heat, one particle does 
not warm another ; therefore the air which actually 
comes in contact with the over-heated furnace is the air 
by which we are warmed and which we inhale. 

The leakage of gases is another very serious objec- 


10 — 


tion to this mode of heating. A furnace cannot be cast 
whole, and consequently it must have joints, which, by 
the continual strain of heating and cooling (expanding 
and contracting), will invariably become broken,—no 
matter how substantially they may be put together 
with bolts, screws and cement. These joints come 
against the fire on the inside, and the air to be heated 
on the outside, consequently whenever a joint is broken, 
the gas from the burning coal is drawn, (by the greater 
current of the heated air,) upwards into the rooms that 
are being warmed. There is also an arsenical escape 
from the highly heated iron, which too, has its poisonous 
influence upon the air we are to breathe. And this is 
what the trade call ventilation !—a trite term em¬ 
blazoned on every furnace warehouse, as the surest de¬ 
coy to catch purchasers. 

Danger from Fire .—Another evil of hot-air furnaces 
is their constant liability to fire the premises to which 
they are attached. The small quantity of fire-surface 
and heating-surface which they contain, render it ne¬ 
cessary to drive the fire to the highest point. This 
produces in the furnace and its surroundings a heat so 
intense as to open seams in the iron and brick-work, 
through which escape fire and combustible gases to the 
adjoining wood-work. 

Many furnaces are erected without “ double tops,” or 
any separation between the furnace and the ceiling di¬ 
rectly over it. Such are condemned by all insurance 
companies, and are pre-eminently dangerous. Nor is 
the danger confined to the cellar. The hot—air flies 
from the furnace at a temperature high enough to ignite 
any combustable thing with which it may come in con¬ 
tact. The tin conducting-pipes serve as protectors so 
long as they retain their bright reflective surface ; but 


— li¬ 


the various gases arising from the furnace, and the 
friction of the rapid current of air, soon change the 
bright, non-conducting surface of the pipes to dull con¬ 
ductors of heat, the solder will melt from the joints, 
crevices will be opened, and the contiguous wood-work 
set on fire. It has been ascertained that the continual 
action of heat will char tin and burn it away. The 
pipes often become broken by the settling of the walls 
into which they are imbedded. It may with truth be 
said that it is hardly possible to erect a modern hot-air 
furnace without the liability of fire. Official investi¬ 
gation proves that two-tliirds of the fires are traceable 
to this system of heating, and the fire insurance com¬ 
panies have been compelled to increase their rates 
where this kind of heater is used, while they offer a 
premium for safer modes. 

The unequal distribution of heat , is an important 
sanitary reason against the employment of the common 
hot-air furnace to produce artificial warmth. The un¬ 
naturally heated air, rushing into the apartment with 
the velocity of a tornado, ascends at once to the ceiling, 
and, rendered specifically lighter than the air already in 
the room, it descends only as that may be displaced. 
The thermometer will, in a common room, indicate a 
difference in temperature of 10° to 15° between the 
floor and ceiling. Hence the head-aches, dizziness, 
cold feet, and the many indispositions to which the oc¬ 
cupants of such rooms are continually subject. There 
are other causes and conditions which operate to pre¬ 
vent this highly rarefied air from being equally appor¬ 
tioned in an apartment ; but were the air as pure as 
the element from which it was perverted, such ine¬ 
quality of distribution would be an unanswerable argu¬ 
ment against the system. 


They do not ventilate. —Although the force which 
the hot-air exerts upon the air in the room may expel 
it through some apertures of egress, and thus effect a 
thorough change , yet this does not constitute ventilation 
in the true signification of the term. The air is made no 
better by the process, but rather ivorsc. The comparative 
ly pure air of the room is exchanged for that which is 
contaminated. 

Its irregularity of fire. —Subject to the capricious 
discretion of domestics, and without any self-regulating 
contrivance to check the excessive combustion, the fire 
is left to a wasteful and dangerous irregularity. When 
you require the least heat in your apartment, the serv¬ 
ant has considerately raked out the grate, opened the 
draft, and put on a surplus of coal. When you really 
want heat, the draft-damper happens to be closed and 
the fire clogged, and for all the servant knows, it is a 
mystery why the fire does not burn better. 

The closing of registers and excluding hot air 
from the room, does not, as in the case of a well con¬ 
structed steam or hot water apparatus, have the effect 
to check the draft and deaden the fire, but rather to 
increase it, for the greater the heat against the furnace, 
the more the draft is accelerated and the hotter is the 
fire. With every means of escape closed, and a heavy 
fire raging, it may be readily seen that the air in the 
hot-air chamber and pipes leading therefrom would be¬ 
come dangerously hot ; and, robbed of all its vitality, 
would, in this instance at least, become unfit for respi¬ 
ration . 

The Evaporating Tan. —The evaporation of water 
from a vessel placed within the enclosure of the furnace, 
is but a poor remedy for the scorching of the air. The 
excessive and irregular evaporation, which is unavoid- 


13 — 


able, is frequently more objectionable than the over- 
dried air. The moisture is only mechanically taken 
up by the currents of air that may happen to come in 
contact with the water. This does not reinstate the 
original vitality of the atmosphere, or recompense it for 
the loss of its natural moisture. Papered walls and 
furniture are often injured, and even ruined, by exces¬ 
sive humidity from this source. Its effect upon our 
personal health is certainly a matter of serious moment. 
The visible deposit of vapor on the windows and walls 
in the kitchen, is an opposite example of the effects of 
excessive evaporation. 

Improved Combinations. —A great diversity of pat¬ 
terns, and many wonderful “ scientific” and u philo¬ 
sophical” applications and “ combinations” are displayed 
in each quarterly edition of this modus operandi for 
creating artificial heat. Some adopt an apologetic at¬ 
tachment in the shape of a few feet of steam radiators, 
or hot-water circulation ; others vaunt themselves of* 
some “ self-cleaning” or “ gas-consuming” paraphernalia, 
but they all amount to about the same thing, and are 
subject to the same objections. 

Remarks. —Such are a few of the many evils con¬ 
nected with the use of the modern hot-air furnace ; 
and yet, because their first cost is small, they are 
more universally used, in America, than any other 
heater that sends its heat up from below. But their 
employment is peculiarly an American institution. 
Intelligent foreigners attribute our bad health and com¬ 
plexions to their use. It is to be sincerely hoped that 
as the public become enlightened on the subject of 
artificial warmth, and the laws of health relating there 
to; and as less objectionable modes of heating are 
brought within their reach, this unnatural arrangement 
will be consigned fcrever to oblivion. 


— 14 — 


LOW PRESSURE HOT-WATER FURNACE. 

Here we will speak of an apparatus whose merits 
'consist in its being directly opposite in all its features 
to the hot-air furnace; and whose demerits are that 
these opposite features amount to extremes. It sins 
are rather of omission than commission. The heat it 
yields so far as it goes—is of the most agreable and 
healthy kind, soft, and gentle as the breath of sum¬ 
mer. But it is too much akin to summer, and the con¬ 
geniality of this season is too strongly reciprocated. 
The cold breath of winter does not agree with it, as the 
many inefficient members of this family now laid a- 
side will bear strong testimony. It has been ironically 
styled “ a warm weather heater.” The most approved 
] tatterns do, however, give heat enough except in very 
cold weather. 

The hot water apparatus is not of modern origin ; it 
has been more or less in use almost from time im¬ 
memorial. Its ancient usage was confined more par¬ 
ticularly to green-houses, graperies, &c., &c. In this 
department it possesses decided virtues, which cannot 
be gainsayed. The warming surface in this case (usually 
consisting of four-inch cast-iron pipes) is placed directly 
within the space to be warmed, extending its entire 
length. The surface being ample, and the large body 
of water (acting as a sort of balance wheel) circulating 
freely through the pipes, maintains a very even tem¬ 
perature. This temperature can, by careful firing, be 
graduated to the requirements of any condition of the 
external atmosphere. The temperature of the water 
has a graduation from tepid warmth upwards to 212°, 
the boiling point. But this nicety of modification to 
any required temperature implies a skillful and ever- 
watchful gardener and fireman. 


15 


For warming private residences the pipes are gener¬ 
ally smaller, and are located in the cellar, in the same 
position as the hot-air furnace. The air being hut 
moderately heated, the pipes conducting it into the 
rooms are necessarily very large. The same necessity 
requires the heating surface to he very extensive, and 
consequently, to occupy a large space, and involve a 
heavy expense. 

Owing to a large body of water being heated, the 
apparatus is very slow in getting up its heat, but, as a 
recompense for this defect, it is equally slow in parting 
with it. Water is one of the best retainers or bottler s- 
up of heat, which fact argues against its efficiency as a 
heating agent—at least against its rapidity of oper¬ 
ation. 

Liability of Freezing .—One of the most serious ob¬ 
jections against this mode of heating, is its liability to 
freeze. So long as the water is kept in circulation this 
cannot occur. But the fire, which disturbs the inequalty 
of temperature in the water and causes it to circulate, 
is liable, through neglect or otherwise, to go out. Or 
if the fire be quite low, it may not cause a circulation, 
owing to the friction of water against the immense sur¬ 
face. The water always remaining in the pipes, and 
often remote from the fire; its exposedness to the out¬ 
door inclemency by means of a large cold-air box; the 
force with which the inward current impels it against 
the pipes—all these circumstances combine to increase 
the liability of the water to congeal. 

There is usually a damper in the cold-air box by 
which the out-door cold may be excluded, but its adjust¬ 
ment depends upon the servant, who, if careless enough 
to neglect the fire, would certainly fail to attend to 
this. 


1G — 


Miscellaneous Objections .—By using a large quantity 
of water, with no provision for drawing it off, sediment 
and mineral deposits will accumulate and gradually im¬ 
pair its efficiency. 

The very large amount of heating surface which it 
presents to the air is somewhat objectionable from the 
dust and refuse matter continually accumulating thereon. 

Hot water operators find it a difficult matter to keep 
the water just at its boiling and most available point 
without its escaping in steam or overflowing ; and the 
control of the draft to the fire in conformity with the 
heat required, has not yet been satisfactorily accom¬ 
plished. 

HIGH PRESSURE HOT-WATER 

FURNACE. 

Our previous remarks relate to the common apparatus, 
where the warming surface is located below, but there 
is another arrangement whereby the pipes run through 
the house and are coiled in sufficient quantities in the 
various apartments to be warmed. This is called the 
high pressure system, and is not as often adopted as the 
former. This plan possesses all the objectionable 
features of the other, with some additional ones. 

Its Liability to Freeze is as great, and the results 
more disastrous. Where the pipes run to any consider¬ 
able height, the hydraulic pressure on the lower part of 
the apparatus is very great ; this, with the amount of 
expansion and contraction by heating and cooling of 
long lengths of pipe, create a liability of leakage from 
the numerous joints, stop-valves, &c,, which in nice 
rooms would be inadmissible. Such a large column 
of water, extending from cellar to garret, would, in a 
case of breakage, flood the house and furniture almost 
to their ruin. 


— 17 — 


No ventilation is produced by this system ; and the 
coils in the rooms have to be covered by screens which 
take up valuable space and are not very ornamental. 

Experience does not prove that any form of hot-water 
apparatus is at all economical in the consumption of fuel. 


LOW-PRESSURE STEAM-HEATING. 

It is acknowledged by all those who are acquainted 
with the nature of steam, that it is at once the most 
efficient, manageable, and economical of all agents for 
communicating and distributing artificial warmth. It, 
occupies the same superiority of position in the heat¬ 
ing department that illuminating gas does in the de¬ 
partment of artificial light. Being of about the specific 
gravity of gas, and of an elastic and volatile nature, it 
is peculiarly calculated to flow to the desired point, 
even through long and circuituous sections of small 
pipes. It expands seventeen hundred fold over the 
bulk of water from which it is generated, and, in re¬ 
turning to water, imparts one thousand degrees of heat 
to the air, which in water and in an uncondensed state 
would be latent and unavailable. It admits of the most 
compact form, both as regards the space occupied for its 
generation, and the surface to heat the air. 

To construct a steam apparatus that shall be effici¬ 
ent, reliable in mechanical detail, and at the same time 
simple, substantial, economical, healthful, and perfectly 
safe, even in the hands of a common domestic—this is 
the great desideratum. 

Taking for granted that steam, in the application to 
which it is susceptible, is the most suitable agent for 



— 18 


creating artificial warmth, and that an apparatus may 
be constructed and adapted to that application, we will 
briefly sum up the principle features of such an appar¬ 
atus. 

COST OF CONSTRUCTION. 

A proper low-pressure steam apparatus cannot, 
if constructed of material of suitable durability, com¬ 
pete in point of first expense , with hot-air furnaces, 
high.steam, or any form of wanning where a small 
amount of surface, (by being over-heated ,) is rendered 
capable of warming a large amount of air. 

Where the temperature of the heating surface (which 
surface is the principal item of expense) is limited to alow 
and healthy quality, of course a larger quantity must 
be furnished than where the surface is heated to a much 
higher degree. The expense in the latter instance is 
materially lessened at the expense of health and safety. 
The same principle applies to the boiler that generates 
the steam. 

If it be stinted in size and of small capacity, it will 
require frequent attention, be extravagant in the con¬ 
sumption of fuel, and furnish an irregular and unreliable 
quantity of steam. But in comparison with hot water, 
or any apparatus which has a superfluous amount of 
heating surface—surface whose temperature is unwar¬ 
rantably below the healthy point—the low-pressure plan 
can “under-bid”—the same space to be warmed, and 
all other things being equal. 

SAFETY FROM EXPLOSION. 

To those not conversant with steam and its adapta¬ 
bility to domestic warming, the question naturally arises 
as to its safety when thus applied. The idea of “ ex¬ 
plosion ” is invariably associated with the mention of 


19 — 


steam boilers. In every instance where an explosion 
has occurred, steam was confined under a very heavy 
pressure; a large quantity was in the boiler, and that, 
for want of water, in immediate contact with an im¬ 
mense red-hot generating surface, with a fierce fire 
raging at the same time. With a proper low-pressure 
apparatus, there will be, at all times, a directly oppo¬ 
site condition r.f things. Instead of steam being under 
the pressure of 50, 75, or 100 lbs. per square inch, its 
highest possible pressure will not exceed one-tenth of 
the lowest of these figures, while every part of the 
apparatus is capable of sustaining a pressure of twice 
the amount of the highest figures. Instead of there 
being a million volumes of steam on hand at any time, 
one hundred would be the excess. Instead of the fire 
being driven to its highest pitch of intensity (but low¬ 
est point of economy), with a rapid draft, it burns very 
slowly, to a degree, and with a draft just sufficient to 
insure perfect and economical combustion. 

The supply of water to the boiler requires no more 
care and skill than does the tea-kettle on the range, and 
its negligence would involve no more disastrous results. 

But should a “ bursting” happen at this low pressure, 
its consequences, compared with high steam, would be 
about as serious as the bursting of a pop-gun compared 
with that of a heavy piece of ordnance. 

Steam in the proper form for warming purposes, is 
even less dangerous than gas. During five years of 
constant experience in applying steam to private dwell¬ 
ings for warming purposes, and out of some two hun¬ 
dred instances where steam has been thus applied, the 
author has not known of a single accident from ex¬ 
plosion, fire, or otherwise where personal safety was at 
stake. Who can say as much of gas—not mentioning 


— 20 — 


campliene, burning fluid, and other dangerous sub¬ 
stitutes. 

SAFETY FROM FIRE. 

There is a prevalent ignorance on this subject, even 
among men whose official positions ought to lead them 
to more extensive information. We will admit that 
steam has been known to set fire to buildings—water 
lias done the same under like conditions. It is not the 
kind of apparatus, whether hot-air, hot-water, steam, or 
any other thing, that involves a dangerous condition 
from fire, but the quantity of caloric or heat which such 
apparatus or thing evolves. Ice , could it be heated to 
an equal temperature, would ignite whatever it came 
in contact with as readily as a red-hot iron bar. It is the 
temperature of the surface, let it be what it may, that 
implies danger from fire. That temperature, in the 
use of steam, generally depends upon the pressure 
which the pipes or radiators sustain, their thickness, 
the kind of material of which they are constructed, &c., 
&c. Yet pressure is not always necessary to produce 
high temperatures in steam. We have seen steam, 
under no pressure, and in the open air, ignite wood. 
Steam, in its native and unconfined state, is a most 
effectual agent for extinguishing fire. 

The following table shows, in round numbers, 
the temperature of steam under different pressures : — 
At the natural presure of the atmosphere, 
boiling point, 212° 

At 1 lb. pressure above do. 212° 

“ 5 lbs. “ “ 228° 

“ 10 “ “ “ 241 ° 

^ 4 Tx U (The limit of a healthy temper- OXlo 

1 ature for any heating surface.) 1 

u 20 u u (l 9qo° 


* Super cheated or surcharged steam. 



— 21 — 


At 

25 lbs. 

pressure 

above 

269° 

a 

30 

u 

a 

u 

276° 

<i 

35 

u 

u 

u 

283° 

a 

40 

u 

u 

u 

289° 

u 

45 

a 

u 

u 

295° 

ll 

50 

u 

u 

u 

301° 

u 

55 

u 

u 

u 

306° 

u 

60 

a 

u 

a 

311° 

u 

65 

u 

u 

u 

315° 

u 

70 

a 

Bread bat es and wood 
scorches 

320° 

u 

75 

u 

li 

u 

324° 

u 

80 

u 

U 

a 

328° 

n 

85 

a 

U 

a 

332° 

a 

90 

u 

U 

Cl 

335° 

u 

95 

u 

U 

u 

o 

CO 

CO 

u 

100 

u 

U 

u 

342° 


T^qs it will be seen that the danger from fire in the 
nse of steam depends altogether upon the temperature 
of the pipes in which it is confined, and that temperature 
(in common use) depends upon the amount of pressure 
of steam in those pipes. We can refer to a thousand 
instances, where pipes containing low-pressure steam, are 
run in every point of contact with wood, shavings, pa¬ 
per and the most inflamable substances, and, after many 
years’ use in such positions, they have not yet caused 
even “the smell of fire.” The Board of Fire Insurance 
Companies of New-York have recently decided this ques¬ 
tion in favor of low-pressure steam. 

SELF-REGULATION. 

This is the most important feature in the con¬ 
struction of a proper warming apparatus. All of 
the most common artificial heaters of the present 
day are without any such arrangement, and are un¬ 
able to have it, for want of some available mechanical 


force. Steam is peculiarly calculated to effect this ob¬ 
ject, as the small amount of power requisite is easily 
applied, by a very simple mechanical contrivance, to 
shut off and reverse the draught to the fire, and to pre¬ 
vent any possible accumulation of steam beyond the de¬ 
sired limit, even more perfectly than an intelligent being, 
constantly in attendance, could possibly do. 

It is evident that the fire should burn, and the fuel 
be consumed, only in proportion as heat is required. 
The quantity of heat thrown off from the heating sur¬ 
face depends upon the quantity of steam it condenses; 
and the extent of this condensation depends entirely 
upon the amount and temperature of the air coming in 
contact with the surface to be warmed. Thus, when a 
large amount of cold air is brought against the heating 
or radiating surface, the condensation is rapid, a large 
quantity of heat is evolved, the steam used fast, the 
pressure diminished, the draft opened, and the consump¬ 
tion of fuel increased. On the other hand, if the air to 
be warmed is taken against the surface at a higher temp¬ 
erature, and the amount diminished by its ingress being 
shut of from any room, the condensation is diminished, 
less steam is used, the pressure increased, the draft closed, 
and the fire checked to the requirements of the steam. 

By this arrangement, it will be seen that steam is the 
regulator of the fire that generates it. This is all-im¬ 
portant, as the fire is the prime mover, and no steam 
or heat can exist without it, On this feature depend 
safety, economy in fuel, general convenience and health¬ 
fulness. Without it no apparatus is complete, and no 
steam apparatus admissible. The mechanical construct¬ 
ion of such an arrangement must needs be of the most 
simple, substantial, and reliable kind, and proof against 
any contingency. 


— 23 — 


ECONOMY IN FUEL. 

By the perfect regulation and control of the draft, caus¬ 
ing the fire to burn only as the demand for heat is requir¬ 
ed, and invariably closing when that demand is met; the 
water also from the condensed steam running back by 
its own gravity to the boiler, and constantly re-convert- 
ed into steam, with only an incidental waste—and, con¬ 
sequently, not drawing upon the fire to heat cold water;— 
the proper construction of the boiler to insure the most 
perfect combustion, and the full absorption of the caloric 
of the fuel in the generation of steam—tlieseare the princi¬ 
pal conditions on which the consumption of fuel depend, 
and are all maintained in this apparatus to a degree of 
economy not equaled by any other. 

By practical experience, the author is convinced that 
in the use of a properly constructed low-pressure appar¬ 
atus, under like circumstances, one half less the amount 
of fuel will be consumed than by a common hot-air fur¬ 
nace, and nearly the same ratio will hold good in com¬ 
parison with hot-water and higli-steam. 

LIABILITY TO FREEZE. 

This evil, which is such a serious one in the use of 
the hot-water apparatus, scarcely exists in this. Steam, of 
course, cannot congeal, and the water resulting from the 
condensed steam, running back to the boiler through 
warm pipes, certainly will not. There is only one con¬ 
dition under which freezing can occur in the arrange¬ 
ment under consideration, viz., when the boiler is 
located in an exposed place, and the fire is permitted 
to be out for several days, the small amount of water 
in it may freeze, though this may happen without in¬ 
jury to the boiler. 


— 24 


The draft of air through the cold-air duct to the 
heating surface is regulated by a damper operated by 
the pressure of steam, and is proportionate to the 
amount required to be heated—the same as described 
under the head of “ Self-Regulation.” Whenever the 
tire and steam go down, this damper is invariably 
closed, and the cold external air shut off from the 
heating surface. If but a part of the surface is filled 
with steam, or the ingress of warmed air into the room 
is stopped by the closing of registers, a corresponding 
amount of air is admitted. Thus it will be seen that 
this arrangement not only secures an even temperature 
to the air warmed, but prevents the liability of freez¬ 
ing from this source. 


QUICKNESS OF OPERATION, AND 
STEADINESS OF HEAT. 

Having but a small quantity of water to heat, and a 
large fire-surface wherewith to heat it, steam is quickly 
generated and distributed through the heating surface. 
From fifteen to twenty minutes usually will suffice “to 
get up steam” and make the heat available. 

These causes also ensure a steadiness of heat. By 
an ample fire-surface against a small body of water, the 
fuel is enabled, by burning at its very lowest point of 
combustion , to keep up the required head of steam; and 
this point is maintained by the the control of the draft 
over the fire. Thus steam, and consequently heat, are 
kept up so long as there is any fire. 

In this particular it has been claimed that the hot-wa¬ 
ter-furnace is peculiarly meritorious, especially for 
green-liouses, (though we do not admit that steadiness of 
heat, and equality of temperature are more essential to 
the well-being of plants than they are to persons;) that 


25 


having a large body of water, it maintains its beat a 
long while after the fire goes out. This is true; but if it 
maintains it a long while after the fire goes out, it retains 
it equally long when the fire is first built. On the 
oilier hand, steam is generated with the kindling of the 
fire, and goes down when the fire goes out. In this 
respect we claim a superiority for steam, for it is usual¬ 
ly most desirable to have heat when the fire is 
built, and to dispense with it whenever the fire 
burns away, or is extinguished. Both systems cre¬ 
ate heat equally while the fire is burning, but the dif¬ 
ference is at the start and at the terminus. One with¬ 
holds it from being available at first, to give it off lei¬ 
surely, after the other lias accomplished its duty. In 
the aggregate both systems evolve the same amount of 
heat under like conditions. The difference is only a 
matter of time. 

FREEDOM FROM NOISE. 

In the high-pressure form of heating, the noise oc¬ 
casioned by the collision of condensed water and steam 
being driven against each other, is very objectionable. 
The sound resembles the tapping of a hammer, and is 
continually kept up where long lengths of small lateral 
pipes are employed. In factories, workshops, and on 
steamboats, this noise may be admissible, but in pri¬ 
vate dwellings, schools, &c., never. Iron pipes, especi¬ 
ally large ones, run to the different rooms of a dwell¬ 
ing are objectionable in being such good conductors of 
souud. The least rattle of coal or other noises at the 
boilor, can be heard quite as distinctly in some distant 
room as where it occurred. Neither of these undesirable 
features exists in this plan. The pipes are so arranged, 
and of sufficient size, and the pressure in them so slight, 
that the flow of the steam upwards, and of water down¬ 
wards are free and noiseless. 


— 26 — 


SIMPLICITY AND EASE OF MANAGEMENT. 

To have a heating apparatus—especially one that 
otherwise would be dangerous—simple and substantial 
in its construction, not liable to get out of repair, and 
entirely secure in the care of common domestics, is in¬ 
dispensably essential. This apparatus combines these 
necessary features. The fire requires to be fed, to keep 
up an even supply of heat, but twice in twenty-four 
hours. A fresh fire will seldom need to be built. 

There are no valves or dampers whose adjustment 
depends upon the care and judgment of any one :— 
Ouly the simple and all-important items of fuel and 
water are required to be supplied. The supplying of 
these must , under any circumstances, rely upon human 
intelligence. No contrivance, though it be as perfect 
as mechanical skill can construct, is infallible , therefore 
none should be intrusted to fulfill this indispensable 
duty. The habit of the common domestic in the 
kitchen, of supplying with punctilious regularity, every 
morning, the water to the tea-kettle, and the fuel to the 
stove, amply qualifies her to attend to this duty—no 
more skill, judgment, or trouble is required in one case 
than in the other. 

The simple act of shutting off or letting on the heat, 
by turning the registers, whenever agreeable to the 
occupants of any part of the house, does, of itself, regu¬ 
late the fire, the accumulation of steam, and the amount 
of air to be warmed, as before explained. 

DURABILITY. 

Where a considerable expense, as well as some 
trouble is involved, we want, besides the assertion of 
“ for value received/’ an assurance that such is the 
case, and that what we buy will, besides appearing all 


27 — 


right, be in reality of some lasting benefit. This is 
particularly desirable in a heating apparatus which is 
put into a private dwelling. Outside of the first cost, 
its erection is attended with more or less inconvenience 
and annoyance to the inmates. Some tearing away, 
altering and re paring of wood-work, brick, stone, &c., 
is also implied in the operation. 

The simple fact that this apparatus is capable, 
in all its parts, of sustaining a pressure of two hundred 
pounds to every square inch, must be proof abundant 
and apparent of its durability. In short, the boiler, 
heating surface, and all the appurtenances connected, 
will last and hold good at least half the usual life-time 
of man. 

HIGH-PRESSURE STEAM HEATING. 

In our remarks on the low-pressure system, we had 
occasion to anticipate, by way of comparison, many of 
the points properly belonging to this department. 

Most persons have but a superficial knowledge of 
steam, and of course are ignorant of its different forms 
of application, both as an agent for heating purposes 
and as a motive power. All are familiar with the sight 
of the long lengths of small pipes running beneath the 
seats of steamboats and around the rooms of factories 
and many other large buildings. This is the high- 
pressure application of steam heating, and has been in 
vogue for a great many years. 

The steam is generally supplied to these pipes from 
the same boiler that furnishes steam to drive the en¬ 
gine, and they are subject to the same heavy pressure. 
This plan is a convenient one where a steam engine is 
required, but the objections to it make it hardly admis¬ 
sible under other circumstances. 


28 


Disagreeable Noise. —The pipes, sustaining a high 
pressure, usually about fifty lbs. per square inch, and 
extending long distances in a level position, are liable 
to a constant noise resembling the tap of a hammer on 
the pipes. This disagreeable sound is caused by the 
steam coming in contact with the condensed water in the 
pipes, and which must be forced forward by the pres¬ 
sure of steam, as the horizonal position of the pipes will 
not admit of its running off by its own gravity. 

Health and Appearance. —The temperature of the 
pipes, under this pressure, is too high (300°) for a 
healthy and agreeable heat. 

J <D 

The pipes are sometimes stacked up in short lengths, 
and covered with an iron screen, mounted by a marble 
slab. This is the customary mode in stores and hotels. 
The naked pipes, as well as the common clumsy pat¬ 
terns of screens, would have an objectionable appear¬ 
ance in private apartments. 

The Consumption of Fuel is much greater in a high- 
pressure than in a low-pressure apparatus. Both philoso¬ 
phy and practice prove that in proportion as the pres¬ 
sure of steam is increased, the ratio of fuel required to 
give a certain amount of heat is increased, and vie a 
versa. The sensible heat —the temperature of the 
heating surface—may be increased, while the latent 
heat —the great available principle in steam as a heat¬ 
ing agent—is diminished. The amount of steam com - 
pressed in one instance, and the amount of steam con¬ 
densed in the other, are relied upon for heating power. 

Pressure involves fire, and fire fuel. The greater 
the pressure the less the quantity of available heat in 
proportion to the fuel consumed. In proof of this po¬ 
sition we would refer to two buildings in New York, in 
both of which steam is employed to warm abou£ 


— 29 — 


700,000 cubic feet of space. In one the apparatus never 
exceeded 2 lbs. pressure to the square inch, in the 
other the pressure ranged about GO lbs. 

The amount of coal consumed during the same 
length of time (one season), with the other things being 
about equal, was one-half less in the low-pressure ap¬ 
paratus (70 tons) than the high-pressure (140 tons). 
We do not refer to this as a fair experimental example, 
as there were qualifying conditions, such as the more 
perfect regulation of the draft, &c., &c., in favor of the 
low-pressure apparatus ; yet a fair test, under equally 
favorable circumstances, will prove the above compari¬ 
son nearly correct. 

Attention Required .—The supply of water must be 
maintained by the use of a power-pump to force the 
water into the boiler against the pressure of steam. 
The constant watchfulness of an engineer is demanded 
to attend to this, and to keep the fire fed with fuel The 
valves, also, in the different return-pipes of the boiler, 
need to be opened to ventilate the heating-pipes of air, 
and shut when the air is out, to prevent the steamfrom 
escaping. 

Smallness of Boiler .—Here is a universal and most 
serious evil in the erection of the high-pressure appar¬ 
atus. The fire-surface being too small, the deficiency 
must be made up in the intensity of the fire. With the 
very strong draft necessary, the combustion is hurried, 
and consequently there is a large escape of partially 
consumed fuel up the chimney. But with boiler capacity 
sufficiently large to admit of slow and perfect combus¬ 
tion making the requisite amount of steam, the uncon¬ 
sumed particles, which in the other instance are lost, 
would be retained and burned, thus saving fuel, the 
labor of putting it on, and lessening danger. 


— 30 — 


The intensity of the fire, and the rapid generation 
of steam, impair the boiler by throwing off the water 
from the fire-surface immediately contiguous to the fire, 
and exposing those parts, thus rendering them liable to 
burn. 

The smaller the boiler, the less the cost of construc¬ 
tion. The expense of the boiler is economised by the 
man who erects it, at the expense of the man who is 
obliged to furnish fuel for it. 

The danger of Explosion attending this Plan is ow¬ 
ing, in a great measure, to the furious fire consequent 
upon the use of too small a boiler. A certain amount of 
steam is required, and a small surface is, by being 
over-heated, taxed to its utmost capacity to furnish it. 
The fearful resultssof explosion are attributed to an ex¬ 
plosive gas which is generated by the throwing of a jet 
of cold water from the pump upon exposed red-hot 
surfaces ; also to the water becoming too low, or to a 
large amount of dry, sur-charged steam, packed within 
a very small space. An excess of pressure, merely, 
would cause a bursting at the weakest point, and the 
pressure thus being relieved, nothing more serious 
would be the result. 

The Danger from Fire by this system is explained 
in speaking on the same subject in connection with the 
use of low-pressure steam (page 20), to which we refer 
the reader. 


SUMMARY REMARKS. 

There is at the present time a general dearth of 
good artificial heaters. Steam, as the agent for heating, 
is rapidly growing in public favor, and must even¬ 
tually supersede all the other modes, although it is, as 
yet, only in the incipient stages of development. The 


31 


field is so broad and inviting that ambitious adventur¬ 
ers are plenty, each sanguine of ultimate success in at¬ 
taining the much-desired object—the construction of a 
cheap and perfect steam apparatus. Most of them are 
entirely successful in obtaining the former cpiality , but 
fall lamentably below the standard in the latter. 
Many are the devices concocted within prolific brains 
to effect this object, and most as frequently is recorded 
the untimely birth of some alien to the legitimate 
household of heaters. Happily for the public, they 
seldom reach any further state of development. 

There is a system of low-pressure steam heating now 
successfully before the public, which should, perhaps, 
have the credit of being the jrionecr in this department. 
We allude to the apparatus erected by the New York 
Steam Heating Company (Cdold’s Patent). This has 
received the highest encomiums of praise from Prof. 
Silliman and other eminent scientific men, among whom 
is Dr. Reid, of Edinburgh, the distinguished Professor 
of Warming and Ventilating. The principal merits of 
this system consist in the control of the draft and con¬ 
formity of the fire to the heat required, and the radi¬ 
ation of warmth from steam-heated surfaces. These 
surfaces consist of broad, thin, hollow iron drums, or 
radiators, filled with steam at a very slight pressure. 
One of these, placed at one side of the room, is usually 
sufficient. The heat from them is thrown off in rays, 
which (like those from the Sun and the open fire) pene¬ 
trate the air without warming it. In warming by the 
direct rays of heat, this radiator imitates more nearly 
the great source of light and heat—the Sun—than any 
other artificial device. 

Steam for mechanical applications, and steam for 
warming purposes, do not go hand in hand. The offices 


— 32 — 


of one disqualifies it for the proper duties of the other, 
and vica versa. Theory, practice, and philosophy, all 
agree on this point. Low pressure for warming—high 
pressure for mechanical force. 

Steam, in its natural, uncompressed state, (212°, the 
same as the highest temperature of water), imparts to 
the air a mild, healthy, and agreeable heat. Hot 
water does the same, but is less efficient, and liable to 
freeze. There is no danger from fire by either of these 
two modes. 

High-pressure steam may be dangerous from fire 
because of the high temperature of its surface. By 
excessive pressure it may have all the unhealthy and 
dangerous qualities of the hot-air furnace. 

The limited amount of fire-surface and heating-sur¬ 
face is a very serious deficiency in almost every heat¬ 
ing apparatus of the present day. Where a small sur¬ 
face is required to do a large amount of warming, it 
must of necessity be heated to a very high tempera¬ 
ture. This is done not only at the expense of fuel but 
of health. This evil grows out of competition in the 
trade to get up as clieaj) an article as possible. But 
many have found to their sorrow that an apparatus 
stinted in surface is the dearest one of all. The com¬ 
bustion is imperfect by being too rapid, and a large 
quantity of fuel escapes and is wasted, which with a 
slower fire would be burned. 

The fuel also has to be often, replenished and a de¬ 
cided loss of heat is incurred by the frequent opening of 
the furnace door, and the repeated kindling of fresh fuel. 

In hot-air furnaces the fire-surface is but the other 
side of the heating-surface—hence, the intense heat 
that burns up the air, as well as the furnace itself.* 


*We have seen them so rotten as to literally crumble to pieces. 



— 33 — 


V here the expense of other modes compels the em¬ 
ployment of hot-air furnaces, those should be selected 
which have the largest heating-surface in proportion to 
the fire, and have the fewest and most permanent 
joints. An old firm* in New York, who have heated, 
with hot-air furnaces, the greater number of “ the five 
thousand houses of the Astors”, have recently con¬ 
structed a furnace in which these features are well ad¬ 
hered to. 

All heating apparatus, especially those intended for 
domestic use, should have sufficient heating capacity 
to allow the fire to burn very gradually—so gradually 
that it need not be replenished more than twice in 
twenty-four hours. 

It is very important to have the hall, which is the 
great artery of a house, properly warmed. On the tem¬ 
perature of this—extending as it generally does through 
all the stories—to a great extent depends the temperature 
of the whole house. In fact, a house can be tolerably 
warmed by steam, and at a very small expense, from 
the hall alone. 

VENTILATION. 

4 

This is a subject on which a great deal of time, 
talent, and ink have been wasted. The acceptable mean¬ 
ing of the term is simply to keep the air of all artificial 
habitations in its natural condition—as pure as it exists 
in the broad expanse of space. To effect this object 
much labor has been spent, and many ingenious plans 
devised. Some have been successful to a certain extent, 
but most of them have failed of attaining the desired 
object, by being to complicated, expensive, Ac. 


* Merldee & Thatcher, 77 Bleccker Street. 



34 — 


Impurities to which ice are subject ..—The principal 
sources of impurities of which the air requires to he 
ventilated, may he briefly summed up as follows : 

1. Expiration from the lungs of persons and animals. 

2. Perspiration (sensible and insensible) from per¬ 
sons and animals. 

3. Stoves of all kinds. 

4. Hot-air furnaces. 

5. Fumes and vapors from the kitchen. 

6. Artificial illumination. 

7. Unnatural dryness of the air. 

8. Unnatural humidity of the air. 

9. Evaporation from human and other bodies. 

10. Decomposition of organic substances. 

11. Stagnant air. 

12. Damps of cellars and basements. 

13. Sickness, fumes of medicine, &c. 

The extent to which these impurities exist under 
the innumerable variety of conditions and contingen¬ 
cies, and in different localities, we will not attempt to de¬ 
fine. 

The amount of provision requisite to be made for 
counteracting the pernicious effects of the above-named 
causes, depends altogether upon the necessity existing 
in each inividual instance. In hospitals, school-houses, 
public buildings, and all places where a large number 
of persons are congregated, the contamination of air is 
very great, and corresponding provision should be made 
for ventilation. 

In private houses where but few reside, and where 
few sourses of contamination exist, less effective means 
ar required to ensure proper ventilation. The remedy 
must in all cases be commensurate with the requirements 


— 35 — 


and this must, in a great measure, be left to the good 
sense of those whom it immediately concerns. 

Merely changing the air does not constitute venti¬ 
lation. The air may be often changed and still be more 
impure than in a stagnant or otherwise perverted state. 
Hot-air furnaces give a copious change of air to the 
apartments, and their venders are loud in proclaiming 
the importance of ventilation, making a virtue of neces¬ 
sity to effect the sale of their wares. The remidy is 
worse than the disease in this case. The heated air 
thrown up from the furnace is most unhealthy, while 
the air it displaces in the room is comparatively pure. 
A change in the air is effected, but ventilation is pre¬ 
vented. 

Equal temperature necessary. The air of a room 
may be changed, and all its impurities be removed, and 
still be in an unhealthy condition from an unequal tem¬ 
perature. A cold current may be circulating "through 
it in one part, and a warm current in another. The 
tendency of all artificial heat is favorable to this evil. 
Heated air naturally rises, and the upper strata in an 
apartment will be warmer than the lower, unless count¬ 
eracted by some artificial process. 

Very much depends upon the condition of the air 
warmed, whether it be deprived of its natural moisture, 
and thus rendered specifically lighter, or warmed mere¬ 
ly, without interfering with its natural state. The heat 
from hot-air furnaces and stoves is, of all others, the 
least calculated to distribute itself in an apartment. 
Besides the air being deprived of its moisture by com¬ 
ing in contact with over-heated surfaces, the gases are 
deranged, and its natural gravity thus lessened. 






— 36 — 


THE NECESSITY FOE VENTILATION 
IN PRIVATE HOUSES. 

The question most intimately affecting us, and to 
which we will now confine ourselves, is, what provision 
should be made for the proper ventilation of common 
dwelling-houses. Here the principal contaminating in¬ 
fluences to provide against, are those which emanate from 
the human system, and from artificial heating and illu¬ 
mination. Taking the average opinions of the best au¬ 
thorities, a common grown person will vitiate and render 
unfit for respiration 7 cubic ft. of air per minute. 

The natural causes of impurity from the human sys¬ 
tem are: 

Consumption of oxygen (the vital element of the air) 
by inspiration; emitting carbonic acid by expiration; 
insensible perspiration; and “the peculiar effluvia of the 
living body.” 

Thus a single person would, in 6 hours, destroy the 
air contained in a room 16 ft. square and 10 ft. high. 

But we ought not to limit our lungs to the smallest 
amount of pure air which the constitution can tolerate 
without perceptible injury. “It is evident that the nearer 
the air within-doors approaches in purity and freshness 
tlle free and open atmosphere, the better will it conduce 
to health, strength and length of life.” To maintain the 
highest state of health through our respiratory organs, 
the air with which we come in contact at one moment, 
should be exchanged for fresh air the next. It should 
instantly be carried off and as often renewed. With 
every inspiration of the lungs we irrecoverably take 
from the air a portion of its vitality; with every expir¬ 
ation we actually poison it. 

A candle (6 to the lb.) will consume one-third of the 
oxygen from 10 cubic ft. of air pr. hour. Oil lamps 


I 


— 37 — 


with large burners will change in the same way 70 ft. 
per hour. Gas illumination produces the greatest 
changes in proportion to the light evolved. Every cu¬ 
bic foot of gas burned imparts to the atmosphere 1 cubic 
foot of carbonic acid. A burner which consumes 4 cu¬ 
bic ft. of gas per hour, spoils the breathing qualities of 
400 cubic ft. of air in that time.— Youmans. 

The injurious consequences of foul air. By breath¬ 
ing foul air, almost every species of diseases is engen¬ 
dered; among the first of which are cholera, consump¬ 
tion, fevers, scrofula, and all the various difficulties of 
the lungs and throat, and infant mortality. It disorders 
and prostrates the physical constitution generally, and 
has a degrading and debilitating influence upon the 
mental and moral faculties. 

Therefore it is not possible to obtain too much fresh 
air, though to obtain a large amount properly warmed, 
in cold w T eather, is a matter of serious if not expensive 
consideration. 

The modus operandi whereby to effect the desired 
change, purity, and even distribution of air artificially 
warmed, must be taken into consideration. On the prin¬ 
ciple that “like cures like” we must employ some artifi¬ 
cial process as a remedy. It would be futile to attempt 
to define any particular process of ventilation which 
would be applicable in all cases. 

As heated air has a tendency to ascend, vents or es¬ 
cape-pipes should, in ordinary cases, be provided near 
the floor. This will counteract the rising current, by 
creating a draft downwards. The heaviest and most 
noxious gases floating in the lower part of the room are 
also drawn off. Other vents should be provided near 
the ceiling, for summer use, in connection with the lower 


ones. 


3S — 


As artificial ventilation involves motion of air pro¬ 
duced either by heat or some mechanical force, artificial 
heat, by being constantly in domestic use, is the most 
economical and available agent; and a proper warming 
apparatus becomes a convenient and important auxili¬ 
ary, and may be arranged to perform both duties sa- 
isfactorily. 

Artificial Ventilating and Cooling in Summer- 
Time .—When the public become more convinced of 
the importance of proper ventilation, and are willing to- 
be at the expense of pure air instead of lavishing money 
on useless decorations, we may expect to see, in com¬ 
mon use,, artificial appliances for a more thorough and 
steady change of air in warm weather. 

This can be effectually and safely accomplished by 
rarifying a shaft of air leading from the various rooms 
to be ventilated, by means of steam-heated surfaces 
placed in a ventilating - dome on the roof, or a 
chamber in the garret, through either of which the 
shaft or shafts may find an external opening to the 
outer atmosphere. Or a cheaper, if not more effec¬ 
tual mode, is to have double chimney flues, by enlarg¬ 
ing the common kitchen flue sufficiently to admit an 
interior one to be used exclusively for the smoke and 
products of combustion. Into the outer flue vents may 
be opened from all the different rooms, and the ordi¬ 
nary fire used for cooking and laundry purposes will 
rarify the air and create a good draft. To accelerate 
the draft, and increase the power of ventilation 7 the addi¬ 
tional heating surfaces, as in the former arrangement,, 
may be applied. Of course these vents from the rooms 
must have corresponding inlets from out-doors, which 
are provided in the flues that bring the warm air into 
the rooms from the heating apparatus. 


— 39 — 


These plans were originally designed by Mr. James 
Renwick, Jr. for the Smithsonian Institute, Washington 
1). 0., and other public buildings. But their introduc¬ 
tion has been limited—solely on account of the com¬ 
paratively slight extra expense—to a few first-class 
private residences, a bank* &c., built under the direct-, 
ion of Mr. Renwick. Adopting either of these plans 
would obviate the necessity of opening windows and 
doors, which let in dust and noise and unpleasant 
odor from the streets, and which are so convenient for 
burglars. It would also prevent the unequal currents 
of air from those openings, and ensure a regular change, 
whether the out-door atmosphere be in motion or not. 
The air to be drawn through a room may be cooled to 
any extent by causing it to pass over ice; it may also 
be purified by being filtered through charcoal. Both 
of these operations are practical. 

Ventilation invoices Expense .—The question of the 
amount of air to be supplied may be considered in some 
respects in an economical point of view, in the same 
manner as the table one can afford to sustain, the house 
in which he may dwell, or the clothing he may put on. 
Although pure air is the most abundant of all things, 
yet in our plan of living it is by no means free of cost. 

-—Reid. —The real practical difficulty in ventilation is 
its price. Although the atmosphere is every body’s 
property, and is the cheapest of all things, yet a supply 
of pure air in dwellings is by no means free of expense. 
To ensure ventilation we must have motion of air, and 
to produce motion demands force, which is a marketable 
commodity. Whatever will produce available force has 
value in it. Whether it be fans and pumps driven by 
steam engines, or upward currents set in motion by 

The Metropolitan Bank Extension. 



— 40 


naked fire, in both cases there is expenditure of fuel. 
It is true we may use the fire that must be kindled to 
produce warmth, and thus secure the additional result 
of ventilation, apparently wiihout an additional cost. 
But in most cases foul air is also warm air, and in es¬ 
caping conveys away its heat, which is thus lost. Con¬ 
trivances liave been proposed by which the out-flowing 
warm air may be made to impart its heat to the in-com¬ 
ing cold air, but they are not yet reduced to practice. 
Until that is done heat must continue to be lost by 
ventilation just in proportion to the extent. Hence, as 
was before remarked, ventilation may be classed with 
food and apparel, and it becomes a question of how 
much can be afforded. But there is this important dif¬ 
ference, that while economy in the latter—a plain table 
and coarse clothing—are at least equally favorable to 
health with more expensive, styles of eating and dress¬ 
ing, economy of ventilation on the contrary, that is, 
any cheapening or deterioration of the vital medium of 
breathing, is injurious to health. One of the worst evils 
of scarce and expensive fuel is, that the poorer classes 
feel compelled to keep their rooms as tight as possible, 
to prevent the escape of warm air and the consequent 
waste of heat.— Yoamans. 

General Remarks relating to Ventilation .—A room 
may be thoroughly ventilated without being at all 
heated; or it may be thoroughly heated without being 
in any way ventilated—the latter is too often the case. 
But the effective and harmonious operation of the two 
systems are indispensable, in cold weather, to health 
and comfort. 

In ventilating in connection with heating, a few gen¬ 
eral rules should be observed. The air should be ob¬ 
tained pure and retained pure in the process of heating. 


41 


It should also he evenly distributed while passing into 
and out of the rooms. The flues that conduct the air in 
to be warmed, should have their external openings 
from some high point above the line of dust, the pro¬ 
ducts of decayed animal and vegetable matter, and the 
obnoxious gases which float near the ground. These 
flues, as well as the ones that take heated air into the 
rooms, should have sufficient capacity to admit the requi¬ 
site amount of air to pass through them without crea¬ 
ting a rapid current. 

Although the cold-air duct should be of sufficient size 
to supply all the hot-air vents through the building, yet 
that supply should be varied with the demand. When 
a part of the warm-air registers are closed, a corres¬ 
ponding amount of air should be excluded from the cold- 
air duct as well as from the fire. When the fire goes 
out, the cold air should be entirely excluded. This 
arrangement can be effected in a steam-heating appa¬ 
ratus, and its advantages are obvious. An equal tem¬ 
perature of the warmed air is maintained, fuel is saved, 
and freezing avoided. 

The surface against which the air is warmed should 
never exceed the temperature of 250°; and an ample 
quantity should be furnished at this limit, to properly 
warm, in the coldest of weather, all the air that may be 
required. 

We may have the temperature of the heating surface 
higher without injury, provided that, in no instance, is 
the air liable to be confined in contact with it long 
enough to attain the same degree of heat. But this 
liability always exists. 

Artificially warmed air is generally about C0° below 
the temperature of the surface from which it is heated. 
But when it is confined, as in the case of all the regis- 


— 42 — 


ters for its escape being shut, and the tire at the same 
time unchecked, not only is an unhealthy but a 
dangerous heat engendered. 

The heating surface should not be located contiguous 
to the tire; it had better be at least ten feet remote. 
This obviates the liability of gas and smoke, incidentally 
escaping, finding their way into the hot-air chamber. 
There is also less liability of firing any wood-work that 
may form a part of the heating or ventilating arrange¬ 
ment. 





BAKER’S IMPROVED LOW PRESSURE, 

SELF-REGULATING 



FOR WARMING 


PRIVATE DWELLINGS, PUBLIC BUILDINGS, 
STORES, CHURCHES, HOSPITALS, MANUFACTORIES, 
Grecn-Houscs, Graperies, Conservatories, Forcing-Pits, 

AND ALL PLAGES 

WHERE A HEALTHY AND AGREEABLE ARTIFICIAL 
WARMTH IS DESIRABLE 

Office in J C. Johnson’s Hardware Establishment, 

SO Howard Street, 

Three doors Eastof Broadway, 

This apparatus consists, 1st of a boiler, neatly set in 
substantial masonry of brick-work, & located in the cellar 
or some lower room. It lias a simple automatic arrange¬ 
ment, which, by the variation in the pressure of steam, 
regulates the fire exactly to the amount of beat required. 
It also regulates the admission of air through the cold- 
air duct. 

2d, Heating surfaces of the best wrought-iron tubes, 
three-fourths of an inch inside diameter, and one 
inch outside diameter. These are coiled in sufficient 
quantities within a chamber, or chambers of wood lined 
with tin. They are connected with the boiler, hut 
are usually situated directly under the various rooms 
to be warmed. 

3d, Oold-air ducts, or flues through which a copious 
supply of pure external air is conducted into the cham¬ 
ber, to be warmed by the tubes. From thence the warm 
air flows upwards through tin or wooden flues into the 
pace to be warmed. 

Every part of the entire apparatus is constructed of 
the strongest and most durable material, and erected in 


44 — 


the most thorough and workman-like manner, and war¬ 
ranted. Nothing that is liable to get out of order is 
admitted. There are no valves or dampers to require 
attention. 

The boiler is upright, tubular, and the water sur¬ 
rounds the fire on every hand. It is constructed of the 
best wrought-iron, one-fourth of an inch in thickness. 
The boiler and all the connectingtubesare tested under a 
hydraulic pressure of two hundred lbs. to the square inch; 
while the working pressure is limited to five lbs. per 
square inch. At this pressure the boiler is at once 
opened to the external atmosphere, through a large vent 
which cannot possibly allow the steam to accumulate to 
exceed the above limit. 

No part of the brick-work comes in contact with the 
boiler, to injure it, or interfere with the fire-surface and 
the sweeping of the flues. The tubes of the boiler are 
large, and can be easily got at to clean, at any time, by 
lifting the iron lids that cover the top of the boiler and 
the flue around it. 


REMARKS. 

The subscriber has for many years devoted his entire 
personal attention to the application of steam for warm¬ 
ing purposes, especially in Private Residences, and hav¬ 
ing thoroughly investigated every heating arrangement 
of any note, he is assured that he not only appreciates 
the necessity existing in this department, but is quali¬ 
fied to judge of the relative merits of the different modes. 
With this knowledge he is warranted in asserting that 
the plan which is here introduced to the public-the re¬ 
sult of long experience and many experiments-is the 
simplest possible form of adaptation of steamfor warming 
purposes. 


While the proprietor claims for his apparatus a de. 
cidecl superiority, in many particulars, over any other, 
yet he does not present it to the public as in any res¬ 
pect an experiment. Every feature of it that might, to 
those n pi conversant with such matters, assume an ob 
jectionable aspect, has, by the subscriber and others^ 
been satisfactorily tested under almost all imaginable 
circumstances and conditions. Would space permit, we 
could here give the names and recommendations of hun¬ 
dreds who have had steam for years in their dwellings 
-—left wholly to the care of servants, and under more 
objectionable conditions than can possibly be attributed 
to this apparatus. 

Particular attention will be given to the warming and 
ventilating of Private Dwellings. It can be put into 
houses already built without inconvenience to the occu¬ 
pants, and with very little alteration. In most instan¬ 
ces, where hot-air flues are in, the same can be used for 
this mode. 

While every part of the apparatus shall be of the 
best , both as regards durability and finish, the price 
shall be low, and within the reach of all. 

WILLIAM C. BAKER. 


(See Page 17.) 


EXPLANATION to the ENGRAVING. 


U, feed-door for the fuel. 

N, ash-pit and draft-door. 

L L, lids to be lifted for sweeping the flues. 

H H, holes to he opened to remove the sweepings of 
the flues. 

E, valve whereby the water may be drawn from the 
boiler. 

G, glass-guage that shows the height of water in the 
boiler. 

8, supply-pipe for water to the boiler. 

E, faucet in the supply-pipe. 

P P P, pipes leading from the boiler to furnish the 
heating-surfaces with steam. 

V, safety-vent that opens directly into the boiler. 

R, regulating-cylinder that operates the two doors on 
the boiler, and the damper in the cold-air duct. 

C, chamber of the heating surface. 

W W, warm-air conductors from the hot-air chamber. 

O, cold-air duct for outside air to enter. 

D, damper in cold-air duct. 

A, air-valve which closes when the steam presses the 

air out of the heating-tubes. 

B, pipe that conducts the condensed water back to the 

boiler. 






















■ 




































U, feed-door for the fuel. 

N, ash-pit and draft-door. 

L L, lids to be lifted for sweeping the flues. 

H H, holes to be opened to remove the sweepings of the flues. 

E, valve whereby the water may be drawn from the boiler. 

G, glass-guage that shows the height of water in the boiler. 

S, supply-pipe for water to the boiler. 

F, faucet in the supply-pipe. 

P P P, pipes leading from the boiler to furnish the heating- 
surfaces with steam. 

V, safety-vent that opens directly out of the boiler. 

R, regulating-cylinder that operates the two doors on the boiler, 
and the damper in the cold-air duct. 

C, chamber of the heating surface. 

W W, warm-air conductors from the hot-air chamber. 

O, cold-air duct for outside air to enter. 

D, damper in cold-air duct. 

A, air-valve/fyhich closes when the steam presses the air out of 

# •* | 

heating-tubes. 


B, pipe tlrat conduct^l^ej^j^Ri^gUjp-ater back to the boiler 

Lot 69 








































































































































































































































































(Late with the New-York Steam Heating Co.) 


Will give bis personal attention 


W AIMING & VENTILATING 


PRIVATE RESIDENCES 


and other buildings, by his 


Office 36 Howard Street 


(Johnson’s Hardware Establishment.) 


The proprietor is enabled, by the peculiar facilities which he 
possesses, to do all work in the very best manner, 
and at the lowest price. 


His extensive practical experience in 
this department is a guarantee that whatever he undertakes 
will be satisfactorily accomplished. 

(see INSIDE.) 
































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